Lesson 2 - Social Psychology - Social Thinking PDF

# TOPIC 1: The Self and the World ## The Self and the World * Your answer to the question, “who am I?" reveal your **self-concept**. * In social psychology, we see the self or the person as embedded in the social context. * The self is shaped by the world we live in and we in turn shape the...

# TOPIC 1: The Self and the World ## The Self and the World * Your answer to the question, “who am I?" reveal your **self-concept**. * In social psychology, we see the self or the person as embedded in the social context. * The self is shaped by the world we live in and we in turn shape the world. ## WHO AM I: Self-Concept * The set or collection of ideas, images, belief or schemas a person has about the self comprises the **multidimensional** and **multifacilitated** self. * Psychologists now emphasize the multiplasticity or multidimensionality of the self-concept. * As such, we can view ourselves in many ways. * **At the moment, we are only looking at a specific part of our self-concept.** * The working self-concept, or the self-concept of the moment, is not fixed or static. * How we see ourselves **may change**, depending on the **what we think at the moment**. * It on our social experiences and **is embedded in historical and social context**. ## WHO AM I: Self-Concept * **Determinants of the self.** * Some of the social influences that develop our self concept are: * the roles we play in everyday life, * the social identities we form as members of the group, * social comparison we make when we compare ourselves with others. * **Social Roles, Social Identities, Social Comparison, Other people's perception of who we are** * How other perceive us influence how we see ourselves. This phenomenon is described as the **looking-glass self**, our tendency to use other as mirror for perceiving ourselves. ## Culture defines the self: Individualist and Collectivist * Cultural differences can be examined using 2 contrasting worldview: Individualism and Collectivism construct according to Triandis [2001]. * **Individualist culture emphasize the people are independent of their group.** * **Collectivist culture emphasize the interdependence among people.** * **Distinguish marks**: given importance to personal goals or group goals. * **Individualist**: personal goals are important than the goal of the ingroup.</li> * **Collectivist**: a person's goal are defined according to social role, with the group's goal are more important the own goal. * **Individualist**: "I" consciousness * **Collectivist**: "We" consciousness * **Were do you see yourself? I or we?** ## Interdependent/Seperated and Interdependent/Relational Self * Separated vs Relational self [Cigdem Kagitcibasi, 1996]. * The basic strand of the self that emerged from cross-cultural research. * **Separated Self.** * Arises from culture of seperatedness wherein cultural and interpersonal relatedness are between the self. * **Relational Self.** * Emerges from a culture of relatedness wherein cultural and interpersonal relations are between overlapping selves . * **SELF-CONTAINED**: Independent self defined by clear boundaries * **RELATIONAL**: Interdependent self with fluid boundaries ## Interdependent/Seperated and Interdependent/Relational Self * Independent vs Interdependent self [Hazel Markus and Shinobu Kitayama, 1997]. * How people in different cultures see the self in relation to others, particularly whether the self is separate from others or connected with others. * **Independent Self.** * Is defined by unique internal attributes, such as traits and dispositions, that are independent of one's context. * Emphasis is on one's own thought [Example: Western culture] * **Interdependent Self.** * Sees the self-in-relation-to-others as the focus of individualistic experiences rather than the independent self. * Emphasis is on the relatedness of the self with others [Example: ASIAN culture] ## The Filipino Self * **KAPWA** as the core concept of Filipino interpersonal relations emphasizes the self as fundamentally related with others., and not separate or distinct as conceptualized in the West [Enriquez, 1978, 1992]. * **KAPWA**, or the shared inner self, is a recognition of self with others. * **KAPWA**, or the shared inner self, corresponds to pakikipagkapwa or relating to fellow human beings [kapwa tao]. ## The Filipino Self: Family as Central * Philippines as a collectivist culture, the **family** is a prototype of all social relationship [Triadis, 1994]. * People are linked to the family through strong and long-term emotional bonds as well as shared goals. * Cooperation and sharing are expected. * The family is basic to the life of Filipinos. * It is the center of their universe. * Most of what they do, what they think, and what they idealize, among others, are first learned within the narrow confines of the family [Jocano, 1998, p.11]. ## The Filipino Self: Kinship Structure * Filipinos grouped together and identified as **kin, or magkakamag-anak**, by birth, marriage, adoption and ritual kinship [magkumare/magkumpare]. * One can conceive Filipino kinship structure as concentric circles, moving from family **[mag-anak]**, to close relatives **[kamag-anak]**, to distant relatives **[kamag-anakan]**, to kin group **[angkan]**. * Kinship structures has been identified as the primary socialization unit in the Philippines [Torres, 1985]. # TOPIC 2: Attitudes and Beliefs ## Attitudes * **Attitude**: Learned tendency to respond to people, objects, or institutions in a positive or negative way - Summarize your evaluation of objects * **Belief Component**: What a person believes about the attitudinal object * **Emotional Component**: Feelings toward the attitudinal object * **Action Component**: One's actions toward various people, objects, or institutions ## The Self and Attitude: Attitude Formation * **Direct Contact**: Personal experience with the object of the attitude * **Interaction with Others**: Discussions with people holding a particular attitude * **Child Rearing**: Effects of parental values, beliefs, and practices * **Group Membership**: Affiliation with others * **Mass Media**: All media that reach large audiences (magazines, television) * **Mean World View**: Viewing the world as dangerous and threatening ## The Self and Attitude: Attitude Measurement and Change * **Chance Conditioning**: Learning that takes place by chance or coincidence * **Reference Group**: Any group a person identifies with and uses as a standard for social comparison * **Persuasion**: Deliberate attempt to change attitudes or beliefs through information and arguments * **Communicator**: Person presenting arguments or information * **Message**: Content of communicator&#x27;s arguments * **Audience**: Person or group to whom a persuasive message is directed ## Belief * Our preconceptions strongly influence how we interpret and remember events. * In a phenomenon called **priming**, people’s prejudgments have striking effects on how they perceive and interpret information. * Other experiments have planted judgments or false ideas in people's minds after they have been given information. * These experiments reveal that as **before the- fact judgments bias** our perceptions and interpretations, so after-the-fact judgments bias our recall. ## Belief * **Belief perseverance** is the phenomenon in which people cling to their initial beliefs and the reasons why a belief might be true, even when the basis for the belief is discredited. * Far from being a repository for facts about the past, our memories are actually formed when we retrieve them, and subject to strong influence by the attitudes and feelings we hold at the time of retrieval. # TOPIC 3: The Self and behavior ## The Self and behavior * **Attribution theory** involves how we explain people's behavior. * **Misattribution**, attributing a behavior to the wrong source, is a major factor in sexual harassment, as a person in power (typically male) interprets friendliness as a sexual come-on. * Although we usually make reasonable attributions, we often commit the **fundamental attribution error** (also called correspondence bias) when explaining other people's behavior. * We attribute their behavior so much to their inner traits and attitudes that we discount situational constraints, even when those are obvious. * We make this attribution error partly because when we watch someone act, that person is the focus of our attention and the situation is relatively invisible. * When we act, our attention is usually on what we are reacting to—the situation is more visible. ## Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger) * **Contradicting or clashing thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, or perceptions that cause discomfort** - We need to have consistency in our thoughts, perceptions, and images of ourselves - What happens when people act in ways that are inconsistent with their attitudes? * **Justification**: Degree to which one’s actions are explained by rewards or other circumstances. * If little justification exists for actions, we will change our attitude to reduce the dissonance. - Underlies attempts to convince ourselves we did the right thing. ## Why Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes? Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger) * **Figure**: Cognitive dissonance is a state of tension that arises when people perceive that their attitudes do not match their behavior. * Theoretically, they could resolve this discrepancy by changing either their attitudes or their behavior or by developing a new attitude or excuse to explain the discrepancy. * Most of the research, however, has focused on how cognitive dissonance leads to a change of attitude. ## Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger) * **FIGURE**: Summary of the Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) study from the viewpoint of a person experiencing cognitive dissonance. * **True State of Affairs**: Task was dull. * **Conflicting Behavior**: “I told others that the task was interesting.” * **Dissonance Aroused**: “I wouldn't lie for $1." (Action not justified by payment.) * **Result**: Change attitude: “I didn't lie; the task really was interesting." * Dissonance reduced. ## Why Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes? Self-perception theory * **Self-perception theory** assumes that when our attitudes are weak, we simply observe our behavior and its circumstances, then infer our attitudes. * One interesting implication of self-perception theory is the “overjustification effect”: Rewarding people to do what they like doing anyway can turn their plea-sure into drudgery (if the reward leads them to attribute their behavior to the reward). ## Why Does Our Behavior Affect Our Attitudes? Cults * **Groups that profess great devotion to a person and follow that person almost without question** - Leader’s personality is usually more important than the issues he/she preaches - Members usually victimized by the leader(s) - Recruit potential converts at a time of need, especially when a sense of belonging is most attractive to potential converts - Look for college students and young adults ## ACITIVITY **REFLECTION PAPER**: * Look into yourself, WHO do you see? * Describe yourself as YOU, as a daughter/son, as a sister/brother, as a friend, as a lover… as someone other tend to SEE YOU. * Let us see whether the self-concept you have is the same as the concept as other sees in you. * Do not be shy to write even the negative or worst part in you. * Remember, it is still the best to be able to recognize it. ## THANK YOU - end of lesson 2-